Kirk Herbstreit Road to Broadcasting Royalty

By Jace Hinton January 14, 2025 03:05

On your typical Saturdays of watching college football, when you turn on College Gameday in the morning, each person sitting up there has a resume like no other in the college football world. Lee Corso was one of the best college football coaches of all time. Nick Saban is, without a doubt, the greatest college football coach of all time, with seven national championships. Desmond Howard is a Heisman trophy winner, and Pat McCafee was a phenomenal West Virginia kicker who brought life back to the College Gameday set. However, on the far right end, sitting next to Coach Corso, is Kirk Herbstreit, former Ohio State quarterback and Captain, who is the current face and voice of college football. However, he does not have as many accolades as his fellow colleagues, so how did "Herbie" become broadcasting royalty?

Kirk Herbsteirt was born August 19th, 1969, in Centerville, Ohio, 70 minutes away from the campus of Ohio State University, where Kirk's father played his college football and had installed this love for the Buckeyes in young Kirk. Kirk's father was a captain in his days as a Buckeye, and Kirk wanted to be just like his father. In his book "Out of the Pocket," Herbstreit talks about how he was a shy kid in school; however, he was not shy about his love for college football and the Buckeyes. He was a highly sought-after recruit in high school while running the triple-option offense. Michigan's Bo Schembechler and Ohio State's newly appointed head coach, John Cooper, recruited him. Despite his love for the Ohio State Buckeyes, he leaned toward the Wolverines but decided to sign with the Buckeyes. Kirk finally got to lead the Buckeyes in the season of 1992.

That season, Herbstreit led the team to the Florida Citrus Bowl, in which they lost to the Georgia Bulldogs. He set the Ohio State record for pass completions at the time with 28. He also passed for 1,092 yards that season as well. However, the chance to play at the next level of the NFL never came calling, so Kirk decided to pursue another career where he would have to face his biggest fear of public speaking.

Herbstreit started his broadcasting career as a local radio show and TV guy in Columbus to ESPN so fast, and it seemed improbable. Nowadays, the chance of that happening is less than zero percent. What set him apart in the hiring process of College Gameday was his audition tape for Howard Katz, who was the VP of ESPN production, and the next thing Herbstreit knew, he was about to be part of the biggest College Football show in the country. Where He Sits is by Lee Corso, who had so much insight into the sport and learned his broadcasting craft from Chris Fowler. He has now been a staple of college football.

When College Gameday was in Boulder, Coach Prime called Kirk Herbsreit "A pillar of consistency and professionalism that I love." the most accurate comment ever made about Kirk Herbstriet every Saturday he is on Gameday in the morning. At night, he calls the game of the week sometimes across the country, and he is motivating young broadcasters across the country that no matter what, you can do whatever you believe in. Check out his book "Out of the Pocket," as the college football national championship is the next game; watch Kirk in the booth catch that game on January 20th.